CMJ 2006: Saturday (J.U.S.T.I.C.E.)
The last day of CMJ 2006 was all about one thing: JUSTICE. Sure, Syd and I hit up the packed BrooklynVegan day party to check out Tokyo Police Club for a bit (and they certainly didn’t disappoint), but at no point did my thoughts drift from the spectacle I would be witnessing that night at Studio B.
MP3: “Nature of the Experiment” - Tokyo Police Club ((highly recommended))
And now, onto the main event…
JUSTICE + DIGITALISM @ STUDIO B
Before CMJ I’d never seen a single electronic act live, a tragedy considering how much I love electronic music. By week’s end though, I’d seen two of the best in the game right now, and if it weren’t for the Knife’s mind-blowing opening night performance I’d probably be able to declare the Justice show as the most fun I’ve had since catching Bloc Party twice earlier this summer.
Digitalism opened on the side stage, two innocuous looking dudes pumping out massive beats to a crowd who was already into it. I wasn’t terribly familiar with Digitalism outside of their contributions to the Kitsune Maison compilation series (which, upon further inspection, appears to be the majority of their recorded material) and a few of their incredible remixes, but was psyched to see them nonetheless, as I’ve got nothing but undying respect for the Kitsune Records label to which they are signed. As a result of my unfamiliarity with most of their material, nothing really jumped out at me from their set except, though this didn’t prevent me from enjoying it immensely. If Digitalism’s set proved anything though, it’s that I really need to be hitting up electronic shows more often as much as possible, as I had an absolutely awesome time despite not recognizing almost everything I heard, which I can’t say for most shows I go to. Here’s Digitalism’s most recent single, “Idealistic”, as well as his two finest remixes to date. I’m especially fond of that “Nothing But Green Lights” ish they dropped for Tom Vek.
MP3s:
“Idealistic” (Original Mix) - Digitalism
“Nothing But Green Lights” (Digitalism Mix) - Tom Vek ((highly recommended))
“Atlantis To Interzone” (Digitalism’s Klix Klax Remix) - Klaxons
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And then it was time for the two most bad ass dudes in NYC that night to do their thing. While the Knife at least attempted to give the illusion of being a real band, standing behind their “instruments” and beating them in time with the music, Justice didn’t fuck around with any pretense. They were just two cooler-than-cool dudes from Paris, and they were gonna bring the hot jams, drop the pressure, smoke cigarettes in the DJ booth, and make you hurt in all the best ways.
I’m assuming this is fairly standard among DJ sets of this nature, but the best part of the show was the way in which the duo used these incredible unreleased remixes to segue between their actual songs and official remix work. Gaspard and Xavier, or “The Mustache” and “The China” as their apparently called, opened to the set with an extended reworking of the siren noises of Klaxons’ “Atlantis To Interzone”, which appears to be the hot track to remix these days (seriously, how many incredible remixes of this song are floating around right now), before launching immediately into the massive, grimy electronic surges of their molten-hot debut single “Waters of Nazareth”. I won’t pretend like I can remember exactly how their set went from there, but I can assure you it consisted of nothing but pure, unadultered fucktronica hotness. Highlights included some incredible unofficial remixes, though it was their remix of the Scissor Sisters “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” and an awesome reworking of Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” that stand out.
But the track on everyone’s mind was Justice vs Simian’s “We Are Your Friends”; everyone knew it was coming at some point and the anticipation was tangible. Surely aware of this, Justice toyed with the audience, inserting the immediately-recognizable synth surges that open the track into random parts of their set, eliciting a brief cheer before they would immediately move onto their next track. Finally, a good hour or so in, Simian vocalist Simon Lord’s distinct yelps rang out over the audience as Justice dropped the needle on the hottest dance record of the millenium, and the place went fucking bonkers. Seriously, shit was out of control, with everyone screaming out the chorus at the top of their lungs and moving like there was no tomorrow. To be perfectly accurate, it looked a little something like this. Just look at that pandemonium. Justice did their part to get the crowd into it (as if they weren’t already) by muting the instrumentation at all the right moments in the chorus as the crowd shouted out the words instead, and after “We Are Your Friends” concluded it was pretty much game over. People were having the time of their lives - flailing limbs, smiles plastered across their faces, sweat everywhere; it was just a ridiculous time. The rest of the set continued the ridiculously high standard set by the first half, with their remix of Franz Ferdinand’s “The Fallen” standing out as a straight-up murderous highlight. “The Fallen” remix is easily the best of Justice’s remix work (obviously excluding their career-defining “We Are Your Friends” mix) and is without a doubt one of the year’s elite remixes, with the duo completely gutting the original and chopping up Alex Kaprano’s vocals until the original’s but a distant (and dare I say inferior?) memory.
As much as I hate to say it, it was around this point that I left. Yes, I left the bangin’-est show I’ve ever been to. But by that point Justice had been churning out hot fire for damn near two hours and the clock was creeping towards 4 AM, and with the knowledge that NYC cab drivers change shifts at 4 I knew I had to get out of there soon before I was stranded in Green Point for the night. As it was, I had to bribe an already-off-duty cab driver with $20 to take me over the bridge into Alphabet City after having already walked about 15 blocks, but suffice it to say, the opportunity to witness Justice absolutely destroying the crowd in their first-ever set on American soil (can I get confirmation of this?) was well worth it.
MP3s:
“Waters of Nazareth” - Justice ((HIGHLY recommended))
“We Are Your Friends” - Justice vs Simian ((HIGHLY recommended))
“Smack My Bitch Up” (Justice Mix) - The Prodigy
“The Fallen” (Ruined By Justice) - Justice ((highly recommended))
You’ll notice I’ve included the Justice treatment of “Smack My Bitch Up” in the downloadable mp3s above, but it’s not an official release, as I ripped it from their September 2005 DJ set at Trash in London. Keep in mind, this is from earlier in their brief career and doesn’t do, er, justice to their near-perfected current live show. Keep an ear out from two hot reworkings of Prodigy at around the 6- and 19-minute marks (the latter of which you can download individually above), the highlight of the set, “Waters of Nazareth”, at the 34-minute mark and Simian’s original edit of “Never Be Alone” (which went on to yield “We Are Your Friends”) squeezing itself in there in the final minute.
I recently came across an awesome remix of “Waters of Nazareth” courtesy of Philly’s John Redden that might actually surpass Erol Alkan’s remix of the track, an impressive feat considering that 2006 has essentially been considered the year of the Erol in most electronic music circles, so you should defs grab that below. And why not, I also threw in Justice’s touch-up of Mystery Jets’ “You Can’t Fool Me Dennis”, since I’ve been way into the ‘Jets as of late.
Bonus MP3s:
“Justice DJ Set @ Trash, 09.12.05″ - Justice
“Waters of Nazareth” (Jhn Rdn Remix) - Justice
“You Can’t Fool Me Dennis” (Justice Remix) - Mystery Jets
And that concludes my coverage of CMJ 2006, as exhaustive as it may have been. Things will resume tomorrow as per usual, with an especially hot first post back to reward you for your patience throughout the never-ending technical difficulties we’ve had around here.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:16 am
Excellent wrapup, and thanks for the tracks!
November 29th, 2006 at 6:18 am
tyvm I love the stuff by Prodigy (saw them in Vegas) and it’s always nice to find some mixed tracks from their stuff. I’ll listen to more of Justice’s tracks next. Any chance they have a web site to watch for when they have a tour near me?
November 29th, 2006 at 6:22 am
unofficial Scissor Sister remix? i wanna listen to it! are you sure it wasn’t the Teenage Bad Girl remix? because it’s so justice…
November 29th, 2006 at 8:58 am
Cheers for the mystery jets remix and the new waters of nazareth, nice ups.
but surely thats just the original of smack my bitch that justice are playing?
November 29th, 2006 at 9:24 am
Hurray for the love of Mystery Jets!
Also, check out Justice’s remix of Scenario Rock - Skitzo Dancer, it’s their best remix in my opinion.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:25 am
Oh, also check out The Black Ghosts and see if you recognise the vocalist..
November 29th, 2006 at 11:28 am
Good: Justice & Digitalism are playing in Leicester on the 2nd December.
Bad: I’m not here that weekend.
I am a sad puppy.
November 29th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
fake justice mix’s, this is not a real track… this is mixed with a Para One song…
November 29th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Charles, what are you talking about “fake Justice mix’s”…? Please elaborate on what exactly you’re referring to by “this”.
November 29th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Man, Derek…. You got to see Bloc Party TWICE this summer? Crap…. I was set to see them this December, but they backed out of the tour because of Matt Tong’s collapsed lung…. Now I get to see Cobra Starship…. Yay. I, too, share much affection for Bloc.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
That’s a real remix of “Smack my bitch up”. Justice spun it when I saw them with MSTRKRFT on halloween. They f-ing killed it. It was a seriously unbelievably good time had by all. And that’s pretty hard to do in LA, there’s always some downers about.
I know what you mean by needing to go to more electronica acts. It makes you love going to concerts all over again! At least it did for me.’
Always a good post, you never disappoint my friend.
November 30th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
My thoughts on the Smack My Bitch Up comments — the beginning of that track (as downloaded) is the Fatboy Slim Old Skool Mix of Wildchild’s Renegade Master, then it mixes into the orginal Prodigy version of Smack…, to which it sounds like Justice(?) turns some knobs, add some sound effects, and then move into Para One’s Turtle Trouble before it cuts out. Corrections welcome.
November 30th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Yeah. Its not a remix of Smack My Bitch Up…’Its a set rip of the songs Troy said…. Man, I got so sad when it wasn’t brand new remix….
November 30th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
The have been spinning Smack My Bitch Up since forever. Maybe a tribute to Big Beat…
It isnt a remix…
I have a photo from the trashgig when gaspard is holding the recordcover over his head when xavier is playing it…
And also, waters of nazarteh isnt their debut single…
November 30th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
Thank you for the clarification Troy. People will notice that I didn’t list it as a Justice remix rather it’s listed as “Smack My Bitch Up” (Jusice MIX)”, and its true, all they do is twiddle some knobs and add some effects, altering the mix slightly while not creating a true remix.
And Le Fit, if “Waters of Nazareth” isn’t their debut single, then what is? Keep in mind that “We Are Your Friends” is a remix, credited to Justice vs Simian and not Justice themselves.
November 30th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
And also … it is the Teenage bad girl remix that they play….
November 30th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
Ok they did a “live edit”of smack my bitch up…. but name a dj who doesnt twiddle some knobs and uses the effects.
Sorry if sounded mad.
I was just so happy to see a brand new justice remix ( waiting for their album to release) and got a bit angry when it was just a setrip…
You´re part right when it comes to their debut single… They did the Justice Vs Simian - Never Be Alone using samples from Simians tune. They didint do it together.
Sometimes Dj uses the” Vs” when they are gonna split the money 50/50 from the single.
If its a remix they often get money to do the remix and then the group that made the original gets the sellingmoney…
November 30th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
http://www.discogs.com/release/283749
November 30th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Oh no, I\’m aware they didn\’t record \”We Are Your Friends\”/\”Never Be Alone\” with Simian, but as it is credited to both of them I would not consider it their debut single. It is a remix however, as they\’re using the chorus from the Simian song and it is not a completely original Justice production, which \”Nazareth\” is. At this point though, we\’re basically saying the same thing - the rift lies in our individual interpretations of what \”Friends\”/\”Alone\” really is.
It initially saw the light of day as an unofficial remix - a laptop remix the duo created before they were on anyone\’s radar. Ed Banger founder Pedro Winter (who can be seen as the dude with the tux drawn on him in the music video) later heard the remix and signed them immediately, at which point the \”Never Be Alone\” remix began getting heavy circulation in European clubs. I\’m not sure at what point it technically went from being a remix to a \”vs\” production, but whatever, at this point I\’m just beating a dead horse, if you will.
December 1st, 2006 at 7:12 am
Yeah, we’re saying the same thing…
And now we should leave this argument and just be quiet until they release their album….haha
Does anyone know anything more about it?
December 1st, 2006 at 10:18 am
From what I’ve heard, it’s expected around April 2007 and I’ve received confirmation from VICE that the US release will be in sync with the US release, that is - it should come out within a week of the album’s European release.
December 1st, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Cant wait…
December 1st, 2006 at 4:56 pm
back to what troy said about the remix, he’s 100% right. it’s renegade master into smash my bitch up into turtle trouble. no edits or anything.. the songs are the originals. oh and thanks for posting my mix.
December 5th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Thats my photo of Justice… (more from that night on my site) .. next time a credit and link would be nice…
@ Trash (about a 2 months ago)
Somebody at Ed Banger mentioned a bunch of releases around April time… Justice/Uffie etc…
A.
December 12th, 2006 at 6:24 am
Jhn Rdn, Great remix man… I Love it and have been spining it a lot…
December 24th, 2006 at 8:16 pm
sweet, thanks.. where do you spin? send me a message www.myspace.com/johnredden
December 27th, 2006 at 11:45 am
hi.
this is ed bang dan
i am from germany.
the first remix from justice which I’ve listened to was: SCENARIO ROCK - SKITZO DANCER. and I think that this one is still the best one.
first record i got from justice was SIMIAN vs JUSTICE - Never be alone (later: we are your friends).
and now: i’ve got everything of justice.
you have to listen to:
Justice - Waters of Nazareth (JUSTICE REMIX)
NERD - She wants to move (JUSTICE REMIX)
Mystery Jets - You can’t fool me dennis (JUSTICE remix)
MR. OIZO - Nazis (JUSTICE REMIX)
i also know a scissor sisters - i don’t fell like dancing remix, but it’s from teenage bad girl. it’s awsome. john redden also did a great remix! do you know Jutin Timberlake - SexyBack (PATRICK ALAVI REROX). very hot!
and what is that JUSTICE - PHANTOM about. THE NEW TRACK ?
fatboy slim is a real remix.
Don’t forget
UFFIE
SEBASTIaN
MSTRKRFT
FEADZ
EROL ALKAN
DIGITALISM
BOYS NOIZE
ROIT IN BELGIUM
HOT CHIP
and all the rest…
ed bang dan
April 12th, 2007 at 6:41 am
Ich besichtige deinen Aufstellungsort wieder bald fur sicheres!
April 15th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
G’day gentlemen, unfortunately for me the above links are mostly invalid, although ive noticed the linked url is down… Anyhoo….Is there any chance that there is a compilation torrent around with the tunes on this blog? Some of this stuff is quite hard to attain and, well, im foaming at the mouth to listen to it! If there is any method which i would be able to dl these i would be extreemely grateful.
Great blog too!
Pio
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Loving JUSTICE’s work to date, too many highlights to single out really but I must say that Phantom is just clarsss.
I need to know of any and all JUSTICE live dates, cant find any definitive answers anywhere, if you know where such a list is then please email to me at willypoohbum@yahoo.com
Lovely
December 14th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
cant download any, and i want all of those songs!